The Sumerian Jigsaw
by Parsec
Summary: [Chapter 3 uploaded] A relic discovered on the farm sparks the beginning of a quest to recover the pieces of an ancient puzzle...
1. The Beginning

The Sumerian Jigsaw **__**

The Sumerian Jigsaw

By: Mark J. Hadley

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CHAPTER 1

"The Beginning"

The sun rose over the farmland...it was quiet, as it was every morning in the middle of Nowhere. Only a single figure was up and about this early. Courage stepped out from the farmhouse, taking in a deep breath of the fresh morning air. This was always his favorite time of the day, where the morning sun eliminated the terrors of the night. This was one of the few moments that he looked upon the world not in fear, but peacefully.

Only one thing could make everything perfect... "Now, where did I bury that yo-yo?" he said to himself. He couldn't remember, so he just shrugged, and started digging in a random place. As luck would have it, his intuition was correct, and after several minutes of digging, he popped his head up out of the hole he made, holding the yo-yo triumphantly above his head, "Yes!"

As he started to climb out of the hole, however, his foot struck something solit inside the soft earth on one side. "Huh?" he said, surprised. Curiously, he began to dig in that spot, and was even more surprised to uncover a large, wooden chest buried there.

_Strangest things I find out here all the time,_ he thought. With some effort, he dislodged the chest and managed to pull it up and out of the hole. Now that he had taken a good look at it, he saw that it was locked, but the lock was rusty and ready to fall apart.

"Courage!" came a shout from the farmhouse. Turning to look, he saw Muriel standing by the door. "It's time for breakfast!" Courage smiled...he _was_ getting hungry. He didn't want to leave the chest behind, though, so he grabbed hold of it and dragged it back to the house.

Inside, Eustace was already seated at the table, and Muriel was just setting down a huge plate of pancakes in front of him. She looked over and saw Courage dragging the chest into the house, and said, "Oh! What have you got there, Courage?"

Courage shrugged, and Eustace frowned at him, "Stupid dog must've dug somethin' up out there _again_. He's _always_ bringing junk into the house..."

"It looks like a treasure chest," Muriel remarked. "I wonder what's in it?"

After a few moments of silent staring in Eustace's direction, he grumbled, "Eh, all right...I'll get my tools..." He got up and left the kitchen, returning a minute later with his toolbox. Pulling out a huge wrench, he clamped it over the lock and twisted, trying to break it off.

It was hard work, though, and the lock, rusty as it was, wouldn't budge. Courage helped him out, and after a few more minutes of tugging, it finally gave, shattering into pieces. Both of them together pried the top of the chest open, and stared inside in expectation. Their faces fell when they saw the contents, however: a whole trunk full of rocks.

"Well, isn't that peculiar..." Muriel said.

"Rocks! Like we don't have enough of them around here already!" Eustace said angrily, glaring down at Courage. "Whaddaya gonna bring in here next? A giant sack of dirt, maybe? Stupid dog..." Courage whined and lowered his head.

Muriel scooped up one of the rocks from the chest and said, "Now why do you suppose anyone would go to all the trouble of locking these into a chest..." She glanced down and said, "Oh!" in surprise, as something caught her eye. In the spot where she had moved the rock, she had uncovered something hidden beneath it. A small object wrapped in an old cloth.

Eustace moved some more of the rocks aside so that they could pull it free. He lifted the object out carefully...it wasn't very large, only about six inches long on each side, and about half an inch thick. He unwrapped the cloth slowly, uncovering whatever was inside, and his eyebrows rose in astonishment.

Courage was also amazed by what he saw, as was Muriel. It was a flat tablet, that appeared to be made of solid gold. The edges of the tablet were strangely shaped, with sections that portruded out, and similarly-sized notches here and there. Some ancient cuneiform writing was etched into the surface. Moreover, it was in excellent condition...not only weren't there any nicks or scratches, but it was clean, like it had recently been polished. That couldn't have been, though, since the cloth it was wrapped in was old and dusty.

"Oh my..." Muriel said breathlessly. "It's lovely!"

"Lovely, _nothing_," Eustace exclaimed. "It's _expensive_-looking! We're gonna be rich!"

Courage climbed up onto the kitchen table to get a better look. He pulled out a piece of paper and started making a quick sketch of it. As he did, Muriel looked curiously at the engravings on it and said, "I wonder what this says, or where it came from..."

Eustace held it up in the light and said, "Who cares? I'm more interested in finding out what it's worth!" With that, he walked over and picked up the phone to call the museum. "We're gonna be rich! Rich! _Rich_!"

***

Courage ran upstairs to the attic with his sketch. He sat down at the computer and started typing, "Found old tablet...ancient writing...solid gold..."

The computer sighed and printed on the screen, "All right, let's see."

Courage fed the sketch into the scanner and waited as the computer analyzed it. After a few moments, it printed, "Oh! Quite a treasure you've got there, kid."

He smiled and typed back, "What is it?"

The information was displayed, along with an image of the tablet, matching the drawing he had made. "What you have there is one of the pieces of the Sumerian Jigsaw. It's quite old, created long ago by a powerful sorcerer." Eight similar tablets appeared on the screen around each sides of the tablet that was already displayed. "There are eight other such pieces that were scattered across the world shortly after their creation. Legend has it that assembling all nine of the pieces together..." The pieces on the screen came together slowly, interlocking with each other. It started to glow. "...would grant the one who assembled it great power."

Courage was startled to hear this, but started typing anyway. "Is this legend true?"

"Well, if I knew _that_," the computer replied, "it wouldn't just be a _legend_, now, would it?"

"Okay, okay," he said. "What do the writings mean?"

"Well, when translated, the engravings on the center piece, the one _you_ have, give out the supposed locations of the four pieces immediately attached to it. _Their_ engravings translated _together_ will reveal the locations of the last four pieces. Of course, there's no guarantee that _any_ of these pieces will be _there_ anymore, if anyone ever moved them."

Courage scratched his head, and typed, "Where are the first four?"

"Hold on." The computer continued analyzing the engravings, and finally said, "Well, one piece is located in South America, deep inside the rainforest. I'll need some more time to translate the rest. This isn't like reading a book, you know."

"Hmm..." he said, looking over this last bit of information. As he did so, Eustace walked into the attic, with the tablet in hand, and said, "Where's that phone book...can't call the museum without my phone book..." He stopped by the computer screen, noticing the information about the tablet it had printed out, "Eh?"

Courage watched as Eustace read over it. After he did, he shouted with joy, "There's _eight_ more of 'em? Heh heh heh!! We'll be rich! Nine _times_ as rich! Whoopee!" Turning around, he ran from the attic, shouting, "Muriel! Pack yer bags! We're goin' on vacation!"

As he left, the computer displayed, "I suppose you'll need my help, of course. You can contact me with that text pager on the desk."

Courage looked to one side of the computer, and there was indeed sitting there. He picked it up and said in surprise, "When did we get _this_?" Shrugging, he headed out of the attic to pack his _own_ things.

The computer printed out one last thing on its screen, "Good luck in South America."

***

At the airport, Eustace and Muriel sat in the waiting area near the gate for the plane that would take them to South America. Muriel was busy knitting a sweater while they waited, and Eustace was reading a newspaper. Courage was apprehensive about the trip at first, but now he was actually beginning to look forward to it. It _was_ almost like a vacation.

He looked down at a small box, which he kept with him, containing the Jigsaw piece he had found. Best not to leave it out of his sight, he thought. He didn't want to lose it.

Across from them, sitting in another row of waiting room seats, were a few people reading newspapers. One of them slowly lowered the paper and gazed over the top edge of it...he was wearing a black hood, wrapped around his head like a ninja. His eyes were also a deep red color. Glaring in their direction for a moment, he raised the newspaper back up.

Courage cringed, and said to himself, "I don't like the looks of this..." He casually got up and walked off towards the gift shop, taking the box with him. As he walked, he glanced back over his shoulder, and sure enough, the men had gotten up and started following him. All three of them were dressed up completely in black, as the first one had been. Whining slightly, he started walking faster, and they, too, quickened their pace.

He darted into the gift shop and walked down one of the tiny aisles of overpriced merchandise. Peering around from the edge of a rack of magazines, he saw the men enter. They looked around, not knowing where Courage had gone. Suddenly, one of them spotted him, pointing in his direction, and each of them drew a long, nasty-looking sword with a serrated edge.

Courage screamed, "Aaaaaaaugh!" and jumped away from the merchandise display as one of them swung their sword, cutting the magazine display in half. Pieces of paper fluttered about the air, and Courage ran as fast as he could between them, back out into the airport. They turned and ran after him, waving their swords in the air.

"What do I do? _What do I do?!_" Courage exclaimed. He looked around, trying to find someplace to hide, but there wasn't really anywhere to go. People didn't even seem alarmed as the men brandishing the swords ran past them, almost as though they couldn't see them.

However, someone apparently _could_, because before they reached Courage, another man jumped out between them. He was wearing a military-issue covert operations uniform, and brandished a strange-looking pistol-like weapon towards the men with the swords. They stopped in their tracks. One of them shook his fist in the air silently, then all three of them were surrounded by wisps of smoke, almost shadow-like, and simply vanished.

Courage howled, "Ooooooh...what's going _on_ here?!"

Once the soldier was satisfied that they were gone, he turned to Courage and said, "Listen up, dog...it's imperative that you succeed in your mission. The Order of the Ebon Shadow already knows what you're looking for. They won't bother you as long as _we're_ around, but we can't keep an eye on you all the time..."

Courage didn't know what to say, so he said nothing and waited as the soldier continued, "If you need our assistance again, contact us anytime." He handed him a small business card, then disappeared into the crowd.

Scratching his head, Courage glanced down at the card and read it, "Bureau 13...Top Secret Government Organizations, ltd." He felt a chill run through him...did they know about the Sumerian Jigsaw? How did they know he found that one piece? And who were these Ebon Shadows that were after him? He had the feeling that he probably didn't want to know the answer to _any_ of those...

Another thought occurred to him, and he quickly ran back to the waiting area, "Muriel! I hope she's okay!"

When he got back over there, they were still in the same place. Courage let out a sigh of relief, and sat down next to them. Almost immediately, a voice spoke over the loudspeakers, "Flight 921 to South America now boarding..."

"That's us!" Muriel exclaimed. She put her knitting away and picked up her carry-on bags. "Isn't this exciting, Courage? We needed a vacation..."

Courage nodded, but still didn't feel too good about this whole thing. He didn't even know what lay ahead of them, once they get to their destination. Staring down at the box in his hands again, he said to himself, "Ohh...I just know I'm not going to like this..."

**__**

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Templo del Pie

CHAPTER 2 ****

CHAPTER 2

"Templo del Pie"

A sizable group of people made their way through the dense rainforest, following their guide, a man with red hair and a thick red mustache, dressed in forest green colors. He spoke to the group with an English accent, "There, on your right, you'll see the rare and lovely Hunter Fern, native to these parts. Note the vibrant, brilliantly colored leaves, in a bright rainbow pattern…very distinctive. Don't get too close, however, because this species of fern can release a cloud of knockout gas, rendering its prey unconscious…not at all pleasant, yes…"

Near the back of the group, Muriel stood with Eustace and Courage. She commented, "I never knew something so beautiful could be so dangerous."

The entire tour so far made Courage nervous. Maybe it was just him, but it seemed like _everything_ out here was nice to _look_ at, but deadly to touch or go near. He decided not to stray off, and stuck close to the group the whole time.

Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out a tiny map and unfurled it. According to the translation from the Jigsaw piece, there was supposed to be a place near here where the next piece was located. At least he _hoped_ it was still there.

Eustace looked over at his map and said, "Are we goin' the right way?"

Muriel walked alongside of him and said, "I think you've got the map upside down, Courage…" Courage grinned sheepishly, and turned the map right side up.

Slapping his forehead, Eustace said, "Stupid dog! Can't you do _anything_ right?"

"Now now, Eustace," Muriel reminded him. "It was an honest mistake. Besides, as long as we follow the tour group, we won't get lost."

"What tour group?" Eustace asked. As they looked up from the map, they suddenly realized that they had been walking in a straight line and hadn't been paying attention, as the tour group must have changed directions. Looking around, they couldn't see any sign of them anywhere.

"Oh no!" Courage said to himself. "We're lost?"

"Well, isn't _this_ a fine how-de-do!" Eustace said, a little upset. "_Now_ where are we?"

Muriel looked worried, but she said optimistically, "Don't worry, Eustace…we've got a map, after all. Courage, which way do we go?"

Scratching his head, Courage read over the map, and finally pointed in one direction. Eustace frowned, looking off into that section of the rainforest. "You'd better be right about this, ya stupid dog!" Together, the three of them headed off in that direction, pushing through the dense foliage, unaware that some eyes watched them carefully from the trees…

***

Hours passed, and there was still no sign of civilization anywhere. They only saw trees, and plants, and animals, and more trees. It was beginning to get very hot, as well. Courage wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to himself, "I hope we get to where we're going really soon!"

"Oh my, it's hot," Muriel said, fanning herself with her hand. "I could just fancy a spot of tea right about now…"

Eustace looked like he wasn't bothered at all by the heat, even though Courage could see sweat rolling down the side of his head. He still looked impatient, though, as he said, "How much further is it?" Courage shrugged. He really didn't have any clue if they were even heading in the right _direction_ anymore. He glanced up at the canopy above, and silently wished he could at least see the sun through it well enough to orient himself.

As he looked above, however, something else caught his eye. Three dark shapes waited high up in the branches above him. They were watching intently…dressed in black, with red eyes that seemed to glow with a light of their own.

Courage shook fearfully, as he recognized them, "Ebon Shadows!" Before he could do anything else, he saw the three of them leap from tree to tree. Their motions were quick, and it looked like they didn't even disturb so much as a single leaf on the branches. They had been high up before, but now they were jumping onto increasingly lower branches.

Courage knew they had to get out of there. He abruptly picked up both Eustace and Muriel and started running deeper into the forest. Behind him, he heard a few faint *swish* sounds as they continued jumping from tree to tree. He doubled his running speed, gritting his teeth…

Emerging from the foliage, he came to a screaming stop just in time before accidentally running off a ledge. Below the ledge, he could see a river winding its way through the rainforest. Behind him, the Shadows had landed on the ground, and were approaching them, swords drawn. Both Eustace and Muriel shouted in fright, and Courage hopped around anxiously, looking around for someplace to escape.

He finally spotted a fallen tree near the ledge, and kicked it off the side. It fell into the river and immediately started floating downstream. Taking a deep breath, he leapt out into the air, still carrying the other two with him.

Bullseye! He landed directly on the log, and carefully set Eustace and Muriel down onto it. All three of them grabbed hold as the current swept them away. The Shadows peered over the edge of the ledge where they had jumped from, and the one in the lead snapped his fingers in frustration.

"That was close," Muriel said. "I don't know who those gentlemen were, or what they wanted, but they weren't very nice at all."

"They were after my piece," Eustace shouted, "and my money! Well, they ain't gettin' it."

Muriel sighed in relief, "At least we're safe now…"

Courage sighed as well. He froze, though, as he became aware of a faint roaring noise…not like an animal, but a soft, steady sound. Eustace must have heard it too, because he glanced around and said, "Eh? Wha…?"

As the sound grew louder, Courage glanced ahead and saw the source of it. The river was heading straight out into a waterfall. Shrieking, Courage quickly started paddling the log back towards the opposite direction. The pull of the waterfall was sill too powerful for him to paddle against, as they were pulled inexorably closer towards it.

Finally, he spotted an overhanging branch near the edge of the waterfall…he grabbed hold of it, and Muriel grabbed Courage's other paw…Eustace hung onto Muriel's other arm. The tree they were floating on washed over the edge of the waterfall, smashing into pieces on the rocks below. Courage, however, was trying desperately not to lose his grip with all the weight he was carrying.

Dry land wasn't too far away, so he swung back and forth a few times, and managed to throw the old folks onto it safely. He scrambled up on top of the overhanging branch and crossed it, returning to the shore with the others. He plopped down on the ground and said, "Whew…"

"Is everyone all right?" Muriel asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Eustace grumbled. "But we still ain't found where we're goin' yet…"

Muriel thought about that for a moment, and said, "Well, maybe we can see if anyone lives over there." She pointed off into the distance. Courage looked to where she was pointing, and there, over the side of the waterfall and far off in the distance, a temple sat amidst the trees. It was overgrown with moss and vines, but was still for the most part intact. The entire thing was shaped like a giant foot. Glancing back at the map, Courage identified it…"Templo del Pie".

***

It took a while for them to reach it…they had to scale down the ledge carefully and walk for another half-hour or so through the undergrowth, but eventually they approached the entrance. A large stone arch marked the way in, leading into the darkness of the temple. Eustace poked his head into it and shouted, "Hello? Anyone here?" His shout echoed, but there was no response.

"Perhaps they're out right now," Muriel commented.

"Bahh," Eustace complained. He turned to Courage and said, "Go in there and see if anyone's home."

Courage shook his head and whined, "No!"

Muriel gave him a reassuring look, however, and said, "It's all right, Courage, we'll be fine. Go on ahead."

Whimpering a little, Courage approached the entrance to the temple and said to himself, "Okay, I'll do it…but I won't like it…" He pulled a flashlight out of his backpack and, clicking it on, proceeded into the temple.

The place was filled with cobwebs…obviously, no one had set foot inside for years. Simple stone columns supported the ceiling, and even inside, plants and moss were growing between the cracks of the stone floor. Courage stepped carefully, shining his flashlight into every dark corner he saw. He thought he could hear rats and spiders scurrying around, and silently hoped that was all it was.

Turning a corner, he found himself in a corridor that was lit. There were a few high windows on the wall, with rays of light shining in. There wasn't _much_ light, but at least it was something. Still, he felt uneasy…his normally overactive sense of danger was screaming at him again. "There's something wrong here…_very_ wrong…"

Against his better judgement, he approached one of the rays of light shining in, and cautiously stuck his hand through it. As soon as he did, there was a soft *click* from the wall, like he had triggered something. Almost before he had time to react, a large stone hand swung out from the wall, ramming a huge pie into his face with a loud *SPLUT*.

Courage stood still for a few moments, before wiping the pie from his face. _I'd better be more careful_, he thought. Crawling low, he ducked under the rays of light and made his way past them. He had to squeeze _very_ flat to make it by the last rays, but eventually he made it. Without hesitation, he proceeded further into the temple, "At least _that's_ over with…"

No sooner had these words come out of his mouth, though, then the section of the floor he was walking on caved in. He flailed his arms about in the air for a moment, yelling in surprise, and managed to keep himself from falling into the newly created hole by propping his arms and legs against opposite sides of it. Looking down, he saw a pool of water beneath him, with large, nasty-looking fish snapping huge sets of teeth in his direction. He scrambled a little and succeeded in pulling himself up and out of the hole.

Panting heavily, he stopped to catch his breath. That's when he rose his flashlight and saw the next section ahead of him. There was a very wide ravine, far too wide to jump across. A single thick vine ran across the center of it, attached firmly to each side, like a tightrope. Clenching his teeth, he gingerly stepped out onto the vine…it held his weight, so he kept going across it. He held his arms out for balance. The darkness in the pit below stretched on for as far as the eye could see, the bottom nowhere in sight.

About halfway across, he thought to himself, _Ok, you're almost there, just keep going and don't look down anymore! I mean it this time!_ As he started the rest of the way, he became aware of some movement ahead of him…a rat had wandered over to the edge of the vine and was standing there, staring at him. "Huh?" he said, surprised.

The rat blinked a few times at him, then suddenly reached down and grabbed hold of the vine. It started shaking it around…Courage shouted in alarm, his shouts echoing into the pit below, and he grabbed hold of the vine with all of his paws, clutching it as tightly as he could. The rat continued to bounce and shake the vine wildly, swinging him all over the place.

Courage still wouldn't let go, though, and after a minute, the rat stopped shaking the vine. It scratched its head for a moment, then snapped its fingers. Baring a set of teeth, it started to nibble through the vine. Panicking, Courage started scuttling as quickly as he could down the vine, trying to reach the edge before he bit through.

The vine snapped, and Courage immediately leapt the rest of the way for the edge, shouting, "_Aaaaaaughhh_!" He landed right on top of the rat with a *THUD*. Catching his breath at the close call, Courage got up and dusted himself off. As he walked rather unsteadily further into the temple, the smashed rat grinned with a set of broken teeth and gave a little feeble chuckle, "Ah heh heh heh heeyyy…"

Entering the next room, Courage was amazed. It was a large chamber, with steps leading up to a stone pedestal on one end of the room. Statues and other carvings lined the walls. All of them held bows and arrows, with suction cups on the end instead of arrowheads. But what really drew his attention was the pedastal…for sitting on it, gleaming brightly in this gloomy setting, was a golden tablet…one of the Sumerian Jigsaw pieces!

"Yeah!" Courage exclaimed. He stepped forward, and blinked in surprise as the tile beneath his foot sank a few inches into the ground. There was a soft *click*, and suddenly, all the statues faced him and fired their arrows. Courage shrieked and raised his arms protectively, but they all hit him anyway. It all happened so fast…he stood there, shaking fearfully, covered with suction cup arrows. Opening one eye, he looked out at the statues, and saw new arrows automatically being loaded into place…but these had regular, sharp arrowheads on them.

Whimpering, Courage shook off the suction cup arrows and began to tentatively take a few steps out across the room. He stepped carefully around the panels on the ground, every so often taking a few worried glances at the statues, which seemed ready to shoot their arrows at any second. It was nerve-wracking. After a few more hops from safe spot to safe spot, he finally made it across the room and up the steps.

He stared up at the Jigsaw piece, smiling. After all that, he had made it! "Now, time to take this thing and get _out_ of here…" He reached out and picked up the piece, and as he did, he realized that he had screwed up and made yet _another_ mistake, even _before_ the whole room started shaking. Pieces of rock began collapsing from the ceiling, and Courage, screaming like mad, jumped from the pedestal to avoid the falling debris.

As soon as he landed, he scurried as fast as he could across the room. As he ran over trigger after trigger, arrows began whizzing through the air right behind him. He barely made it out of the room, before the entire ceiling caved in, filling the room completely up with large chunks of rock. He reached the edge of the ravine he had crossed before, but now, there was no longer a vine to cross it with. He looked around for another way to cross, but there wasn't any…and he saw that more of the temple was starting to collapse behind him.

Quickly, Courage reached into his backpack and pulled out his yo-yo. He cringed and said, "Ooh, I hope this works…" Swinging it around overhead, he threw the yo-yo, and it coiled around a piece of rock jutting out from the ceiling. Giving a howl that was more in fear than anything else, he swung across the ravine on the yo-yo string.

He landed on the other side and, with a small tug, pulled the yo-yo free. As he did this, he said to himself, puzzled, "_That_ was easy…I wonder why it held my weight…" He didn't have time to ponder over it for long, though, as the rest of the temple started to collapse. Running as fast as he can, and screaming the whole way, he charged down the last remaining corridors, doing a quick slide to pass underneath the light rays from earlier. With one last jump, he dove out of the temple entrance just as the last of it caved in.

Eustace and Muriel were still waiting outside, and were startled by Courage's sudden appearance, followed by the collapse of the entire temple. As the dust settled, Eustace said, "Stupid dog, you weren't supposed ta _wreck_ the place!"

Still tired from the ordeal, Courage weakly raised the Jigsaw piece he recovered into the air. Eustace's expression lit up when he saw it, and he cackled gleefully as he took it, "Heh heh heh heh! That's _two_ down!"

"Oh! Good dog, Courage!" Muriel said, patting him on the head. Courage smiled and let out a sigh of relief…at least it was over for now. Of course, they _were_ still stuck in the middle of the South American rainforest, but…

The relative silence in the air was broken by the sound of a helicopter overhead. It descended and landed in a clearing right next to the temple. Several soldiers leaned out of the helicopter and waved for them to board. Courage recognized their uniforms as the same kind the Bureau 13 agent wore that he had met before. _At least they're helping us out of here,_ he thought optimistically.

The three of them boarded, and the helicopter took off. As it did, Courage heard a beeping noise coming from his backpack…reaching back into hit, he pulled the text pager out and read it, "I've finished the translation. You'll find the third piece in France. I'll give you more information once you get there."

One of the soldiers said to him, "Good job, dog…your mission is going smoothly, as planned. We've been authorized to take you to your next destination; where would that be?"

In an effort to illustrate, Courage put on a beret and took out a loaf of French bread in one hand, and a small blue, white, and red flag in the other. He waved it and hummed a few bars of "La Marseillaise." The soldier nodded, and gave the new destination to the pilot. Courage smiled...so far, this wasn't too bad, going after these artifact pieces. He just hoped the rest would be easier to get, although he had a sneaking suspicion that they probably wouldn't be... 

**__**

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Hotel de la Poisson

CHAPTER 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**" **Hôtel de la Poisson ******"**

Muriel stepped out onto the sidewalk and took a deep breath of the fresh air.There was a faint scent of cinnamon coming from the café down the street.The Arc de Triumph towered over them nearby, while they could see the Eiffel Tower further off in the distance."Ahh," Muriel sighed, "Paris.What a beautiful city!"

Courage, next to her, nodded in agreement, "Mm-hmm!"He knew that they were there for a serious task, but at least this was turning out better than the rainforest.It felt more like a real vacation.

Eustace wasn't as thrilled, though.After the long trip over to France, he was exhausted."Let's just find a place ta sleep.Ain't doin' _nothin' here 'till I take a nap."_

"All right, we'd better look for a hotel then," Muriel said.The three of them started down the street, carrying their luggage with them.Courage kept careful tabs on his little locked box, which now contained both of the Jigsaw pieces he had acquired.Somewhere, he knew, there was another piece in this country, and he knew he had to find it.

As he walked along with the others, his pager beeped.Checking it, Courage read the message, which said, "I dug up some more information.No need to thank me.It seems the piece you're looking for had been on display in one of the galleries in the Louvre.Until recently, that is…in fact, it was only a day ago that it was reported stolen."

Courage cringed, and read on… "The theft was flawless, leaving no traceable clues behind.The investigation is still going on, but in my humble opinion, they don't have a chance of catching whoever did it.If the thief is still in Paris, however, perhaps you can still find him."The message ended.

"Someone beat us to it," Courage said to himself."I'll bet it was one of those Ebon Shadow guys.Although I certainly hope not!"He imagined how hard it would be to get it back from one of _them, and the thought of having to __go after them made him shudder._

After a brief walk, Muriel stopped in front of a hotel, with a sign that read, 'Hôtel de la Poisson'.She noticed the vacancy sign in the window and said, "Oh good, we've found a place!I was beginning to think we'd end up walking forever."

They went inside.It was more or less a clean establishment, though it was by no means ritzy.The man behind the counter at the main desk was wearing a green and black striped outfit and a beret.He looked up when they entered and said, "Ah, _bonjour, mes amies.Welcome to the __Hôtel de la Poisson!Can I help you?"_

"We're looking for a place to stay," Muriel asked."Do you still have a free room?"

"_Oui, there is a free room."He turned to take the set of keys from the wall."You are very lucky, __madame, for it is the very last room.Now…the room includes a television, and…"_

"Yeah, yeah," Eustace said, snatching the key from him."Long as there's a bed."

The man nodded, "I'll have someone help you with your luggage, _monsieur…"_

"Don't bother," Eustace replied.He turned and dumped their entire set of luggage into Courage's arms…he staggered unsteadily from the heavy weight of it.Eustace and Muriel started upstairs, and Courage edged his way up behind them slowly, one step at a time.

As he approached their room, 806, he hesitated…further down the hall, one of the hall lights on the ceiling were out, but he could make out a short figure inserting a key into one of the doors and going inside.The figure paused for a moment and looked in Courage's direction.Only his eyes were visible from the darkness.He then disappeared into the room in front of him.Courage shrugged…it was probably just one of the other people staying at the hotel.Returning to the task at hand, he managed to get through the door with some effort, and closed it behind him.

***

In room 809, the figure closed the door behind him.Striding across the darkened room, he went over to a window and looked outside.A police car drove by the hotel, but as he expected, it didn't stop."Zey are looking for me," he muttered, "but zey will not find me."

Turning back to the center of the room, he went over to a table, which had a small music box sitting on it.He carefully opened up the secret compartment on it, and withdrew the object he had hidden inside.Even in the dim light of the room, the gold Jigsaw piece seemed to gleam brightly.He smiled, "Quite valuable.Once I am out of Paris, I will be able to sell it for…how you say…ze big bucks.And zey will never know it is so cleverly hidden zis way."

His laptop computer, sitting on the table next to the music box, was still on, and he noticed that he had an email waiting.Raising an eyebrow, he muttered to himself, "_Qu'est-ce que c'est?" and checked it._

He scratched his chin with interest as he read.One of his underworld contacts found out that the piece he had stolen was actually part of a set, and that there were more of them scattered across the world."Zis…could make me very rich…very rich indeed…"

Reading on, they mentioned that someone else was rumored to be searching for the same items, and that he has found two of them already.A photograph was displayed, and he instantly recognized it, "Ze dog!Ze one I saw in ze hallway…hmm…"He gazed over at the door and smiled again, "I will simply take ze pieces tonight and be on my way.An easy score…for LeQuack.Hoohoo, hoohoohoohehehehe…"

***

In room 806, Eustace lay asleep on the bed, while Muriel sat in a chair in front of the small television that came with the room.Courage was curled on her lap, relaxing as well.He wasn't paying too much attention to the movie that Muriel was watching, since it was all in French.Nonetheless, it was a nice and quiet setting, a sharp contrast to the hectic events of the past couple of days.

There was a knock at the door, and Courage hopped off of Muriel's lap so that she could stand up and answer it.Opening the door, she saw a cart with plates of food on it, including a large covered dish.Pushing the cart was a short duck, wearing the uniform of a bellhop.The disguised LeQuack stared darkly up at her and said, "Room service."

"Oh, do come in," Muriel said, standing aside so that he could wheel the cart in.As he entered, LeQuack cast a glance around the room.He noticed the sleeping Eustace, the pile of luggage…his gaze rested momentarily on Courage, who looked back at him curiously.Finally, he spotted what he believed he was looking for…a small locked box, sitting on a table in the room.

Courage, in the meantime, was lost in thought…he said to himself, "Where have I seen those eyes before…"

LeQuack stopped the cart by the edge of the table, and whisked the cover off the top of the food with a flourish, "_Voilà."As Muriel looked over the food he had brought, he casually set the cover down over the box on the table._

"My, it looks delicious," Muriel remarked."Thank you, sir.Oh!I mean…_merci!"_

"_De rien," LeQuack replied.He slowly started to slide the cover towards the edge of the table, dragging the box along with it.This did __not go unnoticed by Courage, who gasped, and ran to the other side of the table, grabbing hold of the cover and pulling it back the other way._

Surprised by this, LeQuack said, "_Qu'est-ce que c'est?" and tried to pull the cover back in his direction harder.Courage held on with all his strength.The two tugged back and forth on it for a few more moments, before Muriel looked up from the food and noticed what they were doing._

"What's going on?" she asked.

The two of them stopped, and LeQuack said, "Your dog will not give me ze cover for ze tray."Courage, though, was hopping up and down and pointing at the duck, quickly miming a ferocious burglar.Before LeQuack could say anything else, Courage lifted the cover from the table, revealing the locked box.

Muriel folded her arms, "I'm sure it was just an accident.Wasn't it?"

"But of course," LeQuack nodded."You should not keep pets in ze hotel room.Perhaps you should keep zis dog out on ze balcony, no?"

Courage waved his arms frantically and shook his head, but Muriel said, "You're right.Besides, it's a beautiful night, with good weather.The fresh air will do you good, Courage."Whining, he went slowly over to the glass door leading out to the balcony, and stepped outside.It _was a nice night out there, but that still didn't change anything…he wanted to be inside, to protect Muriel…_

As soon as the glass door was closed, LeQuack walked over to it and latched it shut, "I'll just lock zis up for you."Courage pressed his face up against the glass, realizing that he was even more helpless to do anything now.The duck looked back at him from the other side, giving a small, evil smirk, then turned back to the table.

Muriel had already picked up the box from the table, however, and was seated next to the cart, eating the food that he had brought.LeQuack narrowed his eyes, and picked up the plate cover from the table, plus a long-handled spoon.

"Hey!" Courage shouted at the glass."You'd better stop that!I can _see what you're up to!"_

"Not anymore," LeQuack answered.He quickly pulled the curtains across the windows and the glass door, blocking the view of the room.Courage shook fearfully…now he had _no idea what was going on.He looked for a way off the balcony, but unfortunately, it hung out over the river, nine stories below, with no other safe place to jump to._

Inside the room, LeQuack climbed up on the back of the chair that Muriel was seated on, and asked, "Is everything all right, _madame?"_

"Yes, it is," Muriel said happily, between bites of food, "Very tasty…my complements to the chef!"

"I'll ring him for you," LeQuack said.He brought the metallic cover down over her head, covering it almost entirely, and banged soundly against the side with the long-handled spoon.A loud *_GONGGG* filled the room, and when he pulled the cover off, Muriel was unconscious, knocked out from the sound.LeQuack tossed the objects aside and pried the locked box containing the Jigsaw pieces from Muriel's hand."At last, I have it!"_

Outside the window, Courage heard the loud noise, and looked nervously down towards the water far below."Ohhh…" he moaned, "…this is a bad idea…but I gotta save Muriel!"Taking a deep breath, he threw himself off the side of the balcony, leaping down from the nine-story height.He let out a loud scream on the way down, and plunged into the water, creating a huge splash.After a little bit of disorientation, he regained his bearings and swam to the edge.He pulled himself out of water, shaking hastily to dry off his fur before running back for the front door of the hotel, "Hold on, Muriel!I'm coming!"

***

LeQuack opened the door to room 809 and entered, dragging the unconscious Muriel with him._No need to leave witnesses behind, he thought.__She would tell ze police I was here, zen zey would be on my tail once again._

Closing the door behind him, he left Muriel on the ground and walked over to the table, sitting down and placing the box down in front of him.He examined the lock on it and muttered, "Zis will require a delicate procedure to open…"He pulled out a chisel, propping it against the lock, and withdrew a large mallet, striking the chisel and breaking the lock off in an instant.

He slowly opened the box, and as he expected, it contained the two Jigsaw pieces that had once belonged to the dog.Lifting them up to examine them, he said, "Zey are perfect.Just like ze one I have.Zey will each fetch me a fortune!Hoohoo, hoohoohoohooheheheheh…eh?"

His stopped laughing, as he became aware of someone knocking at the door.Curiously, LeQuack walked over…he opened it only slightly, so that whoever it was couldn't see inside, and asked, "_Qu'est-ce que c'est?"_

Courage was there, in disguise, delivering a telegram.LeQuack raised an eyebrow…who knew to find him here?…but accepted the telegram anyway, slamming the door shut.He opened it up and read aloud, "To: ze duck, stop…(hmmph)…I have important warning, stop.Look behind you, stop.(Hm?)"

LeQuack turned around, and had only a moment to see Courage standing there, swinging a huge boxing glove at his face.With a *_clonk*, LeQuack was down on the ground, reeling dizzily, and stars circling his head.Courage took off the boxing glove and tossed it aside, shrugging, "Don't ask how I got in here."_

He ran over to the unconscious Muriel and shook her, "Muriel!Wake up!"She slowly started to come around, but he didn't have time to wait, as he looked back to where LeQuack had been lying and suddenly noticed he was no longer there.In fact, he couldn't see him anyplace in the room."Oh, no!" he exclaimed.

Picking up Muriel over his head, Courage headed for the door.When he opened it, though, he fell back in surprise as he saw LeQuack standing at the doorway.The evil duck said, "You are not going _anywhere."From out of nowhere, he pulled out a very large mallet, and held it over his head, preparing to swing._

Courage screamed, "Aaaaaugh!" and ran back into the room.He crossed it quickly and ran out onto the balcony.Looking around feverishly, he spotted a drainpipe going up the side of the building, and quickly started to climb it, still carrying Muriel with him.LeQuack continued his pursuit, starting to climb the drainpipe also.

They got up to the rooftop, and Courage hurried across to the opposite side.Unfortunately, there was nowhere left to go.He was cornered on an edge of the roof that didn't overlook the river, so he couldn't jump.He turned around and saw LeQuack climbing up on the roof after him.He narrowed his eyes and gloated, "I have you now, you dirty little dog…"

With that, the duck charged towards Courage, who tried desperately to think of something.As LeQuack crossed the roof, Courage took out a banana he'd been saving, and hastily ate it.He tossed the peel out on the roof in front of him.When LeQuack stepped on it, he slipped, and skidded forward across the roof, out of control.He barely had enough time to shout, "_Qu'est-ce que c'eeEEEEEEST!" before the slide carried him off the side of the roof._

Courage watched him fall…luckily for LeQuack, he landed in a garbage can next to the building, which immediately tipped over and rolled down the street._Unluckily for him, though, it came to a stop against a parked police car.The police immediately rushed out and arrested him…one of them said, "Aah!Ze infamous LeQuack!We have you at last…"_

Wiping his forehead, Courage said, "Whew…I can't _believe that worked."He smiled, and carried Muriel down from the roof…everything was safe once again…_

***

They heard in the news about LeQuack's arrest.They were going to be transporting him via plane to a maximum-security prison.The Louvre never got their stolen Jigsaw piece back, but they said, quote, "Oh well.It wasn't really 'art' anyway.We don't know why we put it in there in the _first place."_

Courage couldn't be more pleased.They had already recovered three of the pieces, and they had barely just begun the search.Once again, like clockwork, the computer back home had paged Courage with their next destination: Egypt.

"It's a shame we couldn't stay longer," Muriel said, as they boarded the next flight to Cairo."I was just beginning to enjoy Paris…"

Eustace was looking better, now that he had gotten some sleep, but he said, "Ehh, Paris is overrated.Nothin' interesting.Nope…nothin' at all."

"Well, maybe if you weren't asleep the whole time, Eustace," Muriel scolded.

"I'm awake, I'm awake…" Eustace grumbled."I'll be fine fer our next stop."

As Courage climbed into his seat, he peered out the window and suddenly gasped.Down below, he could see several shadowy people at the terminal.He recognized them as members of the Ebon Shadow.They weren't charging out or anything, but just standing there, watching the plan prepare to depart._Whew, Courage thought.__They got here too late…what a relief…The plane taxied out from the terminal and took off from the runway, on the way to Cairo._

***

Elsewhere, another plane was soaring through the clouds, but it was dropping sharply from the sky, its engines ablaze and trailing smoke.A lone parachute descended from the clouds, carrying a single small figure, who wore a serious expression, yet still managed to smile a little as he said to himself, "Zey have not seen ze last…of LeQuack…"

**_TO BE CONTINUED..._**


End file.
